A couple of years ago, a small development studio from Croatia called Croteam created a hectic first person shooter called Serious Sam that rocked the gaming industry. The game that was created on a small budget was released with a very low price was extremely popular and opened the doors for companies from the former Soviet Union to the Western gaming industry.

Since then, several companies from Russia and other countries have had the chance to present their products in the rest of the world and not without success.

The latest title to be published by 1C Company, known from IL2-Sturmovik and the upcoming game Stalingrad, is You Are Empty, a FPS which is under development by Digital Spray Studio's.

The game puts you in a small town in Russia during the 50's, right after World War 2. The Soviets have used the little town to do some experiments to create a race of superhumans that could spread communism all over the world. However, things turned out quite horribly and almost all humans got killed. Those that did not die instantly got mutated and received supernatural powers along with insanity.

You wake up in the town and although you appear to be quite normal, you too are infected by the mutant virus. During your search to find out who you are, what went wrong in town and how you can get things right, you'll need to find a balance between using your newly received supernatural strengths and keeping your humanity.

That's right. Next to a whole arsenal of weapons from the 50's (guns, rifles, ...) you can use some superpowers to keep your enemies away from you but beware as each time you use them, your own humanity will decrease and you'll become more and more a mutant without control over his behaviour. Seeking the balance is one of the key elements of this game.

Your opponents, as said, will be mutants. They come in all different shapes and forms and the weirder they look the better. Each of them will have his own looks and features and you better look and make sure to kill them as fast as possible, even if they look harmless. For instance there will be a hornblower who won't do much against you but once he notices you he'll start blowing his horn which will attract tons of very violent other mutants. Not something you want to encounter unless you've got plenty of ammo available.

The game is built around an engine made entirely by the developers themselves and from what we've seen they've done a great job. The town looks pretty good although "good" is a big word here. In fact, the town doesn't look good at all. It's got that true '50s communist look from the time where Stalin wanted to be worshipped but since the experiment went wrong, everything gets an even darker side and you really won't feel comfortable walking around which is exactly what the devs are aiming at: this is a ghost town where danger lays around every corner and where mutants will do whatever is in their means to make sure you're dead quicker than you can say a word.

You are Empty may not be the number one game that will compete with Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 but I'm sure it can become a very competitive title with a good dose of fun, action and tention, and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on a final version.